Wire
by ten.years.only.with.you
Summary: Rusty screams in joy. The wire works! The bulb lights up...as if he knew it all along. And so did Cap/


I wish I owned GREEK, especially after this last week. I'll settle for SMF, too though.

Thanksgiving is one of my least favorite holidays, he muses, camping out in front of the TV in the Kappa Tau living room. He hates the wretched holiday because it gives him a chance to be reminded of everything that he doesn't have.

Okay, Cap loves his parents but for once, he'd really like to have a turkey dinner without the interference of PETA handbooks and bumper stickers. As far as he is concerned, it stands for People Eating Tasty Animals. Also, he'd love a holiday where Mom and Pop didn't lecture him about the evil English settler and the helpless American Indian. Granted the idea of sharing a meal and ignoring differences is a swell plan, but the Indians probably repaid the settlers in a similar fashion to the KTs and Omega Chi's: with arrows aimed directly for each other's asses.

More importantly Thanksgiving is an insistent reminder of the lack of Casey Cartwright. And pie.

The last time he had celebrated a real live Thanksgiving had been in his dorm with Casey and Evan. Their "feast" had consisted of Wild Turkey Whiskey, pretzel rods, seasonally colored M&Ms, and a chocolate pecan pie. Ironically enough, it was this meal that sealed the KT Turkey Hunt Tradition. And this Thanksgiving hadn't been like any other in Cappie's records. He didn't need to break the pretzel wishbone in his favor to secure his greatest wish. He already had Casey Cartwright. And pie.

Which is why he gets nostalgic and somewhat emotionally constipated like Beaver during _Days of our_ _Lives _when it is Thanksgiving time. But that doesn't prohibit him from remembering all that he _is _thankful for.

Cappie is thankful for his brothers, especially the ones that stay with him each year at the house. He knows that they stay for him, as they all know why Cap loathes Thanksgiving. He is thankful for his newest little brother, who, despite the unlucky pre-KT sibling connection, is understanding and desperately loyal. Cap is thankful for booze, skateboarding off the roof, the fact that no one shoots the Macy Day parade balloons with a pellet gun, mercilessly pulling pranks on Omega Chi despite his new friendship with Evan, tasty cereal, his crazy Grateful Dead headed parents, and mind numbing video games. But above all, he is thankful for Casey.

And right now he is thankful that at this very moment she is walking into the front foyer, which he has thought to clean, lest the vomit smell reign. He is thankful that she smiles that shy smile when he takes her jacket. He is thankful that she sits next to him at the beer pong turned dining room table. He is thankful that she has thought to come to Thanksgiving dinner when she knows that it will be consisting only of booze, toast, jelly beans, and of course, pretzels. But when she turns to Rusty and says "Come on, Rus. It's Cartwright tradition," and holds out a wishbone pretzel, Cap feels like asking Evan to stick jelly beans in his ears.

Casey holds out the wishbone pretzel to Spitter, and they fight for the wish. Cap holds his breath, watching Casey as she yanks and wins, securing a point over Spitter. Rusty moans something about his polymer project and beating the competition for some smarty pants gimmick, but he doesn't see it because his blue eyes are fixed on her leaf green ones. And before she can make some excuse about going home early due to alcohol, he is walking side by side with her in a comfortable silence back to the ZBZ house.

"Hey, how about a nightcap?"

"Oh right. Night Cap," she says, grinning out the corner of her mouth, eyes cast downward, anticipating his ulterior motive. If only she didn't know him so damn well.

Ah what the hell. "I've been thinking," he begins, looking up into her face. Her perfect face. He's thankful for that face too, but right now he needs to get this out. "I really wish that it had worked out between us."

"So do I." Casey whispers and turns on her heel, beginning her way up to the room that he knows she shares with Ash. The room that he has been in so many times. The room that she had most likely locked herself in when he rejected her. The room where he could have slept had he been a sensible human being and gone after her at the End of the World party.

"Is that what you wished for? On your wish… pretzel." Cap smirks. It's too easy to be himself with her. Add that to the list of things he is thankful for.

Casey shifts, facing him for a second, then sensing an emotional breakdown, backs away. "It's late. I've been drinking. Let's just talk tomorrow."

He is not going to let himself do this again, so he acts. Grabbing her arm, and pulling her toward him, "No, let's talk now." Her body is still and the house is empty and all he can hear is their hearts beating. And he wonders if Rusty's wires are growing back together somewhere, he wonders if they aren't giving up. Because this time he isn't going to.

**Swirling a 180, Casey turns. "Cap, I poured out my heart out to you at the End of the World Party. And you didn't come after me. You should've come after me." It hurts to look into her face, and he finally gets it. ** "**I know…and I have no excuse. But I'm here now, and I'm telling you that---" Foiled again as she opens those lips of an angel.** "**Telling me what?"** **The wire is growing back together. He can feel it. Pieces of her are reaching out to pieces of him like some unstoppable force, pulling them back to each other, without question, reason, or explanation. Rusty is going to be a fucking amazing scientist one day, Cap briefly acknowledges. Because his theory is actually correct. ** **He takes one step up the staircase, melding his aura with hers, and then mixes their colors together. Finally.** **Cap kisses her in a style that Clark Gable would be envious of. ** **And somewhere in the physics building, Rusty cries out in joy. "It grew back! It worked! The bulb! The bulb!" Spitter smiles at his mound of metal scraps, clapping in glee, as if he knew that it would find its way back the entire time.** "**I wanna try this again…I wanna be with you."** "**I wanna be with you,too."** **And they kiss once more, igniting a bulb that had been left off for too long. **


End file.
